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When To Hire A Fundraising
Consultant
by Erica Waasdorp
None of us thinks twice about hiring an accountant
if our taxes get too complicated. We gladly pay their
fees. None of us balks at the hourly rates that attorneys
charge us for the closing of our home mortgage. We
just know that we need their services.
So, why do things suddenly change when it comes to
hiring a fundraising agency or consultant? What causes
us to balk at their rates and why do we question their
integrity and know-how?
For some mysterious reason, direct mail and fundraising
seem to have this aura that "We can do it ourselves,
no need to hire someone who has the experience." After
all, how difficult can it be to write a letter? How
hard could it be to find the right names to mail to?
And, why would it be more difficult working directly
with a printer or letter shop than with anybody else
that we use?
So, why would you outsource your direct mail? Why
would you outsource the copywriting and design... it's
the most fun there is! "We can really show how creative
we are. We'll put some great pictures in 4-color on
the envelope, use some funky type faces for the letter,
think of a great teaser and, yes, the clients and donors
will come!"
Well, think again!
Let's look at an example of how outsourcing benefits your organization and
results!
An advocacy organization in Boston had always done
their mailings in-house. Their list was small, about
1,800 people. They did not have much money to spend,
but because they're a lean organization, they simply
did not have the staff to keep up with the legislative
efforts and get the direct mail out the door. So, they
turned to us. They were not quite sure how this was
going to work. After all, with somebody else writing
the letter, would our writers really know what their
organization was all about? We ended up working within
their budget and were able to get a survey appeal out
to their names before the end of the year. It generated
over $12,000 in just a few weeks. Their investment
almost tripled. Well worth the effort! The above is
just one example of how using a fundraising consultant
could benefit your organization. If you want to grow
your organization, get some new ideas, try things that
have been tested before, using a consultant is the
way to go. If you want to keep doing what you're doing,
then maybe a consultant is not for you.
Sure, if your organization is fortunate and big enough
to have its own in-house creative and production specialist
staff, you may only want to talk to a consultant to
get some new ideas, have him or her review results,
and see if those are comparable with what they experience
with other clients.
But, if you're the average size organization, outsourcing
some or all of your direct mail is really the way to
go. Working with a consultant or agency can:
- Prevent you from having to add staff
- Save you time, which you can spend on running your
organization or department
- Give you many new insights into your business
- Save you money because they will get pricing from
different vendors that they know are reliable
- Provide you with budgets and tracking systems that
you never knew existed
- Help analyze your data and come up with different
ways to approach them, new lists to try, new selects
to make
- Help review any other areas that may need improvement
Working with an agency or consultant can benefit your
organization in many ways. After all, you know the
organization inside out. The consultant has his or
her direct mail industry and fundraising experience.
What a great team!
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